2 years for Bruno

BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer

Published 1:00 am, Friday, May 7, 2010

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian speaks with reporters following the sentencing of former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in federal court in Albany on Thursday. Bruno was sentenced to two years in prison. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian speaks with reporters following the...

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the press outside the Federal Court House after his sentencing in Albany on May 6. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the...

Kris Thompson shows up to former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno sentencing at the Federal Court House in Albany. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Kris Thompson shows up to former state Senate Majority Leader...

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the press outside the Federal Court House after his sentencing. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the...

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno leaves the Federal Court House after his sentencing in Albany. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno leaves the...

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the press outside the Federal Court House after his sentencing. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno talks to the...

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno walks to Jack's Oyster House with his son Ken Bruno after his sentencing in the Federal Court House in Albany, NY on May 6, 2010. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, center, fields questions from the media following his press conference on restructuring racing and gaming in New York on Oct. 16, 2007, at the state Capitol in Albany. (Times Union file photo)

Former Sen. Joseph Bruno leaves the federal courthouse after testimony read-back Dec. 4, 2009, in Albany, where he was being tried on corruption charges. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Former Sen. Joseph Bruno leaves the federal courthouse after...

Former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was found guilty on two of eight federal counts against him. He waves to a woman who shouted words of encouragement to him as he is escorted away from the federal courthouse following his Dec. 7, 2009, conviction for corruption. His spokesman, Kris Thompson, is at far right, as they walk on Broadway away from the courthouse. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union)

Former State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was found guilty...

A bust of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is displayed on the observation deck of the Albany International Airport in Colonie. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

ALBANY -- A federal judge sentenced former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno to two years in prison on Thursday after admonishing the rags-to-riches political leader for failing to apologize for, or even acknowledge, his crimes.

"I know you don't believe you did anything wrong," U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe told Bruno. "You're not sorry because you don't believe you did anything wrong. ... (But) you trampled on the integrity of the state Legislature."

The sentencing is not the end of the case as Sharpe said Bruno, 81, can remain free on his own recognizance until an imminent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the honest services statute used to convict him. In addition, Bruno has vowed to appeal.

When it was his turn to speak, Bruno stood and walked to the courtroom podium, retracing for the judge his impoverished upbringing and the decisions as a young businessman that sparked his interest in elected office.

"Judge, I ran for the Senate because it was a part-time job, that's why I ran," Bruno said, glancing hard at assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Coombe, one of the prosecutors. He said he was offended that prosecutors accused him of enriching himself through his legislative powers, and not because he earned his wealth.

Bruno recounted his hardscrabble upbringing and invoked the memory of the premature death of his 44-year-old mother due to medical error. He said the work ethic instilled in him by a proud father, whose face was scarred with burns from shoveling coal at a paper mill, remains etched in his mind. "I grew up with my father saying: 'If you didn't earn it, it doesn't belong to you.'"

"I can say this to you as honestly as I can say anything in my heart and mind: I did nothing wrong," Bruno said. "Maybe I used bad judgment. Maybe I was a little cavalier in the way I handled my business judgments. ... I knew I wasn't bribed. I knew I didn't extort anybody."

When Bruno's remarks shifted to the role of his Senate lawyers, who guided him on his ethics disclosure forms and approved the business deals that lead to his conviction, the judge cut him off.

"Whose lawyers?" Sharpe interrupted. "Were they doing your private business while they were on the public payroll?"

The judge called the testimony of Bruno's former Senate lawyers "eye-popping" and said he was "disgusted" they had advised state senators to hand-deliver their annual ethics disclosure forms to avoid federal mail fraud charges. Sharpe also reminded Bruno that those lawyers worked for the state of New York and its citizens, not Bruno.

"I thought that was totally appropriate," Bruno said.

U.S. Attorney Richard C. Hartunian, sworn into the job last week, said he doesn't question Sharpe's imposition of a sentence far less severe than the eight years Bruno could have faced.

Bruno was not given a date to report to a federal prison. Instead, Sharpe said, Bruno may remain free until the U.S. Supreme Court decides three cases in which the honest services statute is being challenged. If the high court throws out the more than 20-year-old federal statute Bruno would likely be absolved of his felony convictions. If the court decides the law was misapplied in those cases Bruno would likely head to prison pending an appeal. His attorney, William J. Dreyer, could ask the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to release Bruno pending the outcome of the appeal.

The packed courtroom included two rows of Bruno's relatives and supporters jammed shoulder-to-shoulder as the mood of the nearly three-hour proceeding shifted from serious to jovial and back to serious. At one point Bruno and Sharpe exchanged light-hearted verbal jabs about a trial showdown when the judge scolded Bruno for a remark he made in front of the jury.

The judge also told Bruno he watched his daily news conferences outside the courthouse during trial.

"I didn't hear one word of contrition here," Sharpe said.

Bruno was charged with enriching himself through consulting deals with people who had an interest in his legislative decision-making. The government said he failed to disclose material conflicts of interest as required. Bruno also must pay $280,000 in restitution to the state of New York, the amount of money he gained in the two felony counts on which he was convicted.

The conviction of Bruno followed an aggressive FBI investigation that began in 2005 with an examination of some free private jet flights provided to Bruno by a Loudonville businessman, Jared Abbruzzese. It was his dealings with Abbruzzese, who benefited from Bruno's legislative power, that were central in the two felony counts on which Bruno was convicted.

The trial of Bruno provided an unprecedented look inside the state Legislature, which has exempted itself from the state's Freedom of Information Law and set its own rules allowing the public only limited or no access to its ethics opinions and financial disclosure forms.

Outside court following the sentencing, Bruno said he has done nothing that requires an apology to the public.

"I'm proud of my public service," he said. "I would do those things again in terms of the dollars we allocated."

After Sharpe imposed the two-year sentence Bruno walked into the audience surrounded by his supporters.

"Thank you, guys. We'll be fine," he said, as one of his daughters kissed his cheek.